Funeral services for 88-year-old Martha Baerg of Mountain Lake, Minnesota will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Monday morning, September 15, 2014, at Cornerstone Bible Church in Mountain Lake, located at 1019 Prince Street.
Interment will be in First Mennonite Church of Butterfield Cemetery in rural Butterfield, Minnesota, located north of Butterfield at 65401 320th Street.
Pastor Nathan Janzen will officiate at the services.
Visitation will be for one hour prior to the funeral service at the church on Monday.
Sturm Funeral Home is handling the arrangements.
Martha Baerg passed away on Wednesday, September 10, 2014 at the Good Samaritan Village in Mountain Lake.
Martha (Classen) Baerg was born on February 3, 1926, the daughter of Abe L. and Agnes (Bartel) Classen in Meade, Kansas. She was the oldest of nine children. She attended McNulty School in Meade County for her elementary education. The family moved to DeRidder, Louisiana for a year-and-a-half, returning to Meade in September 1941. Martha and sister, Ann, both graduated from Meade Bible Academy (MBA) in 1948. This was the first graduating class of MBA. Martha then graduated from Grace University in Omaha, Nebraska with her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1951. In 1985, she earned her Master’s Degree in Human Resources and Leadership from Azusa in California.
Martha accepted the Lord at age 16, and was later baptized, upon the confession of her faith, by Rev. Orlando Wiebe on August 6, 1944 and joined the Evangelical Mennonite Brethren (EMB) Church in Meade. She transferred her membership to the Cornerstone Bible Church in Mountain Lake on April 27, 1997.
Martha’s heart was for missions and to serve others, which was indicated by her spending five summers working for the Go Ye Mission in The Ozarks. She also served an additional year at InFaith Mission in South Dakota. She answered her call to missions and went to Japan to assist in Pioneer Church Planting. She faithfully served in Japan from 1951-1996 as a career missionary with SEND International. Along with her sister, Ann, she assisted in planting seven churches.
On May 5, 1989 she married Henry Baerg at the Christian Academy Chapel in Higashi Kurume, Japan. They served together as missionaries with SEND International for 7 1/2 years and were married for 24 years. Upon retirement, they made their home in Mountain Lake and opened their doors to many friends and students from Japan who were traveling through. Martha volunteered with hospice at Good Samaritan Village, Elizabeth House, and was active leading Bible Study, teaching Sunday School, and attending prayer meetings.
She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Henry in 2013 and sisters, Lisbeth (stillborn) and Esther Ratzlaff. Martha is survived by four sisters, Ann Classen Lone Tree of Meade, Alma Regier of Meade, Arlene (D Junior) Stoesz of Mountain Lake and Leona (Harold) Buller of Hillsdale, Oklahoma; two brothers, John (Rose) Classen of Topeka, Kansas and Menno (Susanna) Classen of Aurora, Nebraska; many nieces, nephews and Baerg extended family.
Memorials will be given to SEND International for the Next Generation for Christ project at Okutama Bible Chalet, a Bible Camp and Retreat Center.